


Childish War Game

by TokoWH



Series: Holiday Chronicles [2]
Category: Spyro, Spyro the Dragon (Video Games)
Genre: April Fools' Day, Comedy, Friendship, Gen, Prank Wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-03-31
Packaged: 2018-01-17 17:05:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1395637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TokoWH/pseuds/TokoWH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year, two siblings get into a prank war on April first. Despite the many years it has gone on for, Ember has never once managed to best her brother. However, this year she has a secret weapon in the form of a purple dragon. Little do they know though that this prank war isn't the only thing to worry about today...</p><p>Part of 'The Holiday Chronicles'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Childish War Game

**Author's Note:**

> One-shot beta-read by Riverstyxx. Further comments below.
> 
> Note: This fic is part of a series called 'The Holiday Chronicles', and as such a continuation of the Valentine's Day fic I wrote a few months ago. I would recommend reading that it get a better general idea of what's going on, but it's not required in order to read this fic.

The air was cool in Dragon Village, as it was almost night-time. The day was March thirty-first and spring was right around the corner, though the perpetual greenery was always the same. Nonetheless, the dragons were appreciating the warm-up with how cold the temperatures had been this winter, and many were already being hit with the spring-cleaning bug. However, in one of the many houses, a pink dragoness was far too occupied to deal with it.

Caught up in a mystery book series she had recently got into, a story about a phoenix defence attorney who used his wit and incredible bluffs to get the real murderers to confess to their crimes on the stand, she read intently. The phoenix was currently on the ropes, all evidence pointing to his client as the real murder's alibi seemed airtight. Despite this, the last paragraph of the page had the phoenix confident that, with one single piece of evidence, he could turn this entire case around. Ember's eyes were glued to the book as she eagerly anticipated what wild tactic the phoenix would use next, quickly turning the page to find out.

What she didn't expect to find, though, was a piece of paper that had been stuck there, and a crude drawing of a dragon's—

Ember snapped the book shut, blood rushing to her cheeks as her eyes went wide. Hearing some faint chuckling outside her door, she glared as she turned her head.

 _"Flame!"_ she yelled, pushing the book away.

The chuckling turned into a full-blown laugh as a red dragon stepped through the door. Flame smirked as he put a paw in front of his mouth to try to stop laughing.

"What's the matter, sis? With how much you chase after guys, I thought you'd enjoy that," he said in between chuckles.

Ember growled, glaring daggers at her older brother. "Come on! April Fool's day isn't even until tomorrow! Besides, Spyro and I—I promised we would be just friends for now," Ember said, glancing away.

Flame rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I remember what you told me about this year's Valentine's Day, and all I have to say is— _ptttth!_ " Flame said, sticking his tongue out in a raspberry before a devious smirk appeared on his face. "I've seen the way you still look at Spyro when he doesn't notice. Just because you don't follow him around like a lost puppy anymore doesn't mean that much has changed."

Ember scowled before glaring at Flame. "Sh-shut up! That still doesn't change the fact that April Fool's day is tomorrow, not today!"

Flame laughed at Ember's flustered reaction, nonchalantly waving his paw. "Come on, sis. I just wanted to get a head start. This holiday only comes once a year, after all!"

Seeing Ember's unchanging glare, Flame rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Gee, if you're this much of a stick in the mud today, I'd hate to see you tomorrow," he said, giving a devious smirk. "Anyways, I need to rest up for tomorrow. Night, sis."

With that, Flame left the room. Ember growled, opening her book and crumpling up the _artistic_ drawing her brother had left her. Lighting it with fire and throwing it into her flame-resistant garbage can, she went back to reading her book. She became engulfed in the pages as the phoenix had managed to completely turn the case around with a single piece of evidence, and the true murderer was sweating bullets, only to pause when she heard rapid footsteps heading back to her room.

The door swung open and Flame glared at Ember, a pillow super-glued to the side of his head. A devious smirk appeared on Ember's face as she closed her book.

"Just thought I'd get a head start," she said mockingly, having a hard time suppressing her laughter. "After all, this holiday _does_ only come once a year."

Flame just continued to glare at his sister, a slight puff of smoke escaping his nostrils. "Of course, you know, this means war..."

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

As Flame left the room with a scowl, trying in vain to get the pillow off the side of his head, Ember burst into laughter. Downstairs, having heard everything through paper-thin walls, an adult dragoness sighed as she finished cleaning a few plates.

"Oh boy... Here they go again..."

* * *

It was a bright day in the Artisan homeworld as Spyro sat behind a rock, glancing up to peek on Hunter. The cheetah was currently looking around cautiously. He knew what day it was, and considering a certain purple dragon _loved_ to play pranks on him on normal days of the week, he could only imagine what he had planned for today.

A faint sparkle caught the corner of his eye as he spun around, taking a defensive stance to bolt should anything happen. His jaw dropped at what he saw. A golden gem, a gem worth one hundred red gems, sat out in the open. They were incredibly rare and very much sought after. Hunter glanced around. No other dragons in sight, so apparently no one was searching for it, and gems _did_ have an odd habit of just randomly appearing around the realms. Surely _no one_ would mind if he held on to one of them.

Walking over and picking it up, he was unaware of the faint string that was attached to it. With a tug, Hunter heard a faint snap. Before he realized what had happened, a small wooden catapult flung out of a cluster of tall grass, sending a cream pie flying through the air to smack him in the face.

Spyro and Sparx busted up laughing as Hunter slowly brushing off the pie from his face as he glanced at the rock.

"Yeah, yeah! Laugh it up! At least I have one hundred—" Hunter stopped when he felt something on his paws. Looking down, he saw that there was not only yellow paint on his hands, but the 'golden gem' now had bits of ruby red poking through.

Glaring back towards the rock, he saw Spyro resting his head on his paws as he looked over it, an amused expression on his face. _"April Fools!"_

Hunter frowned, tossing the gem aside as he crossed his arms. "You realize I'm going to have to get you back for this, right?"

Spyro smirked. "You can _try,_ Hunter, but we _all_ know how the previous April Fool's Day wars between us ended!"

Scowling, Hunter turned and started to walk away. His foot caught an almost invisible wire, and another trigger went off as another catapult launched another U.F.P. at Hunter. Having no time to dodge, the pie splattered all over Hunter's face as Spyro and Sparx tried to suppress their laughter. Hunter once again brushed the pie off his face as he glanced back and then darted off, taking long strides in the hopes of avoiding any other booby traps Spyro may have set up.

Once Hunter was out of sight, Spyro fell to the ground and started laughing up a storm. Sparx floated over him, chuckling.

"Man, I love this holiday!" Spyro exclaimed through fits of laughter, brushing away tears of laughter from his eyes.

 _"It sure is fun. Especially, since we're best friends and all, I'm out of the question when it comes to your pranks... Right?"_ Sparx asked hopefully in his dragonfly tongue.

Spyro placed a claw to his chin, looking up as he put on a thinking expression. " _Maybe..._ I'll just say this: you don't want to sleep in your usual bush today."

Sparx gulped as Spyro chuckled. The dragon got up off the ground as he did a cat-like stretch with a yawn.

"I really need to slow myself down. Gonna' tire myself out with these pranks before noon at this pace," he said, taking a deep breath to wash away the chuckles from his last prank.

A devious smirk appeared on Sparx. _"Well, if it's any consolation, I'm sure you'd get a chance to cuddle up next to Ember again."_

Spyro's head shot up to glare at the dragonfly, a scowl on his face. "Shut up, Sparx! I already told you that was only because it was Valentine's Day, and I let my big mouth get the better of me!"

The devious smirk on Sparx' face grew into a full-blown grin. _"Is that why you've still kept her Valentine's Day card these past few months?"_

Spyro growled, facing away as a luminous blush appeared on his cheeks. Sparx chuckled as he rolled his eyes.

 _"Come on Spyro! You know I'm just teasing!"_ he said, floating down and nudging Spyro's cheek with his elbow. _"Besides, I don't know what you two talked about that night, but whatever you said really mellowed Ember out a lot."_

A puff of smoke floated out of Spyro's nostril. It was true. Ever since Valentine's Day, when the two had agreed to just be friends for a time, Ember's trips to the Artisan world had become less frequent, and when she did come to visit Spyro, it was usually just to talk. She never brought up her crush anymore, nor did she try to imply that Spyro felt the same way about her. Despite the fact that those antics used to annoy Spyro to no end, though, he was rather surprised at how odd it felt when they finally stopped. He had gotten so used to it that, when Ember finally mellowed out, he realized that without her tagging along, and the current lack of adventures to go on, he really didn't have much to do during the day.

Sparx placed a hand to his chin, a sly grin on his face as he looked at Spyro. _"Tell ya' what, Spyro,"_ Sparx said as he floated down and placed his elbow on Spyro's forehead. _"I'll stop teasing you about that if you fix whatever the heck you did to my bush. Sound like a fair deal?"_

Spyro glanced up at Sparx before a devious smile appeared on his face. " _Or_ _,_ " Spyro said, shaking his head to get Sparx's elbow off it. "I could go with what I _originally_ had planned. Your choice, Sparx."

Sparx paused, his eyes wide as he considered his options. _"...You drive a hard bargain, Spyro."_

Spyro smirked before he started to look around. "Let's see... What people have I yet to prank?"

As Spyro gingerly snuck around the realm looking for his next victim, on the far side of the realm at the portal to Dragon Village, Flame popped out. He looked around at the green fields and white marble temples scattered around the place with an unimpressed look. Normally, he almost _never_ left Dragon Village, especially on this day, but this time he didn't have much of a choice. Holding up a piece of paper, Flame read the note once again.

_Hey Flame! How about, instead of driving Mom crazy with our usual antics on this day, we take our war to a new place for a change of scenery? I'll be waiting for you somewhere in the Artisan Realm, so prepare yourself, hot-head! – Ember_

Flame narrowed his eyes. Ember couldn't fool him. She didn't care about the change of scenery or making sure their mom wasn't caught in the crossfire. She wanted to take this war here because she used to visit this realm almost every day, and thus knew its layout better than he did.

Flame smirked. It may have seemed foolish to others, but out of all the April Fools they had spent together, at the end of the day he would always come out victorious. So, even if just for this once, he felt like Ember deserved a _somewhat_ fair fight.

Looking around carefully for any obvious traps his sister could have set up, Flame made his way to the main area of the Artisan Realm. The green rolling hills looking inviting, almost _too_ inviting. He tiptoed his way towards the walls of the realm and started to slide along side it, keeping an eye open for any of his sister's usual tactics. Despite his attempt to stay inconspicuous, he quickly caught the eye of the other dragon in the area.

Spyro poked his head out from behind a rock, raising his eyebrow at the red dragon who was sneaking next to a wall. "What's up with him?"

Sparx shrugged, though he couldn't take his eyes off that dragon as an odd feeling tapped at the back of his mind. Placing his hand on his chin, he turned to Spyro. _"Do we know that dragon? I feel like we've met him somewhere before."_

Spyro narrowed his eyes, trying to get a good look at Flame as he scratched his chin. Recalling some faint memories back shortly before Red attacked the Dragon Realms, he tilted his head.

"I think we may have saved him from Gnasty Gnorc before. I think his name was Flare...? No, wait, that's a dragoness' name..." he said, continuing to watch the dragon.

Getting the feeling he was being watched, Flame paused before quickly darting his head around. Spyro and Sparx quickly ducked behind the rock as Flame looked their way, glaring as he thought he saw movement from that direction. Behind the rock, Spyro was still scratching his chin as he tried to place the dragon's name.

"Ah! Flame! That's his name!" Spyro exclaimed in a whisper.

 _"Wonder what he's doing in the Artisan Realm?"_ Sparx said, floating in front of Spyro and placing a hand on his chin.

Spyro shook his head. "Welp, there's one way to find out."

Flame paused as he looked around. Not seeing any immediate buckets of water about to fall on his head, he breathed a sigh of relief as his muscles loosened. For right now, it looked like he could relax.

"Hey, _Flame_!"

Flame jumped, toppling over himself as he fell face-first onto the ground. Not far away, Spyro smirked as he tried to suppress a laugh, turning to Sparx with an amused expression on his face. "What do you think, Sparx? Does that count as a prank?"

_"Eh, you didn't really trick him, you just made him jump."_

"Fair enough. I still have a million more tricks up my sleeve." Spyro chuckled before he hopped over the rock and headed towards Flame.

Flame grumbled to himself as he picked himself up. "Hey! What's the big id—?" Flame turned his head with scowl at whoever had caused him to jump, but he was quickly taken off guard when he saw who was standing there.

"S'up?"

It took a few seconds for Flame to fully grasp who the dragon talking to him was, but once it hit him, he smiled. "Oh, hey, Spyro! Long time no see!" he said, extending his paw. "Haven't seen ya' since we took down Gnasty Gnorc a few months ago."

Spyro smirked as he shook Flame's paw. "We?" Spyro asked as he looked away with a grin. "Odd. The way I remember it, I was the one who fought Gnasty while a certain dragon just shouted 'helpful' advice in the background."

Flame narrowed his eyes as he let go of Spyro's paw. "Anyways... I don't suppose you've seen my sister around here, have you?"

"You have a sister?" Spyro asked, raising an eyebrow. "Weird. I always thought you were an only child."

"Trust me. Sometimes, I really wish I were," Flame said with a chuckle, though he quickly shook his head. "Anyways, have you seen her? She's pink, wears a heart-shaped necklace, and used to bug you on a regular basis."

Spyro paused, tilting his head as only one possible dragoness came to mind. "Wait, are you talking about _Ember_?"

"Yep!"

"Ember's your sister!?" Spyro exclaimed, wings unfolding in surprise.

Flame scratched his cheek, a coy smile on his face as he closed his eyes. "C'mon, it's not _that_ surprising, is it? I'm sure my sis has told you all about me."

Spyro paused, folding his wings as he looked away. "Eh... Not really."

Flame's eyes narrowed as he scowled, placing his paw on the ground as he glanced away. "Bleh. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. I'm sure all Ember goes on about when she's with you is how awesome you are."

"Actually, Ember doesn't really do that much anymore. Still hasn't mentioned you, though."

Flame winced, head hanging low in defeat. Quickly shaking it off, though, he turned back to Spyro.

" _Anyway,_ " he said, slight annoyance in his voice. "Have you seen her?"

Spyro looked at Sparx, who shook his head. Looking back at Flame, he too shook his head. "Nope, haven't seen her all day."

"Drat," Flame muttered, placing his paw to his chin. "If I know her, she'll probably start this off with something simple like dropping a bucket of glue and feathers on me somehow. Heh, she's always so predictable like that. Once I easily dodge that, my counterattack should be..."

Flame paused when he snapped back to reality, looking back at Spyro and Sparx, who were giving him a weird look. Flame scratched the back of his head nervously as he chuckled. Finally, Spyro asked the obvious question. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Flame sighed as he shook his head. "Oh, nothing. I'm just muttering about my sis and my annual April Fool's Day prank war."

Spyro raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Ember was into pranks."

"Not usually," Flame said, taking a quick look around to make sure he wasn't about to be hit with a water balloon. "But for today, she usually makes an exception. I suppose I did start it long ago, though, back when we were five." Flame chuckled. "I'll never forget the look on her face when she walked into her room and found all her dolls glued to the ceiling."

Sparx raised an eyebrow. _"_ _That really doesn't sound so much like a prank as it does usual big-brother-little-sister torture."_

Spyro tuned Sparx out. Though he managed to keep a smile, an odd sense of curiosity washed over him. "Well, I wish you the best of luck on your endeavour. I still have a bunch pranks I need to pull on people myself."

Flame nodded. "Remember to be careful, though. You do _not_ want to get caught in the crossfire of our battle. I'm going to try to keep _casualties_ on my side to a min, but my sis usually isn't as lucky. I know she would be devastated if one of her pranks accidentally—" Flame paused mid-sentence as a thought occurred to him.

Trying his best to hide the growing evil smirk on his face, he quickly started backing away. "Anyways, just be careful. I need to go now before my sis catches me off guard _kay thanks bye!_ "

As Flame turned around and darted off towards one of the temples. Sparx narrowed his eyes and floated in front of Spyro. Placing a hand on his chin, he turned to Spyro.

 _"Gee, I_ wonder _what he could possibly be planning,"_ Sparx said in a sarcastic tone, rolling his eyes as he placed his shoulder on Spyro's forehead. _"It seems 'subtly' doesn't exactly run in Ember's family. Better be on the look out yourself today, Spyro."_

Despite the dragonfly's warning, Sparx was quick to notice of a glint of interest in Spyro's eyes. Sparx shook his head, as he could already tell what the dragon was planning. Spyro smirked. "C'mon, Sparx! This could be interesting."

Before the dragonfly could protest, Spyro had already darted off after Flame. Sparx sighed, shrugging as he shook his head.

_"I thought we already went through a war zone on Valentine's Day? Isn't one holiday gone horribly wrong enough?"_

His words falling on deaf ears, Sparx had no choice but to reluctantly follow his friend.

* * *

Flame peeked his head through the door, looking at the room carefully. No strings or obvious traps, and no door to hang a bucket on. Flame cautiously stepped in and followed the rim of the wall. There was still no sign of his sister anywhere, and it was seriously starting to unnerve him. If her plan was to prank him by _not_ pranking him, then this was going to be a seriously dull day.

Walking up to a nearby door, Flame went to open it. Quickly catching himself, Flame paused. With a sly smirk, he smacked the door open and jumped back as a bucket of water fell down where he would have been. Flame rolled his eyes before heading into the room.

"Come on, sis! Buckets of water are the oldest trick in the book! You're going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to—!" Flame stopped when he realized he couldn't move his feet anymore. Looking down, he saw that the floor had been coated in a thin layer of superglue.

"Oh please! You call that a prank, sis!? I'll admit, using the water bucket as a decoy is pretty clever and all, but all this is doing is just buying you time!" Flame said as he looked around defiantly.

From behind the door, Spyro poked his head around the corner. As he watched Flame struggle to free his paws, he placed a claw to his chin. "Gluing someone to the floor. Not bad for a beginner."

Sparx narrowed his eyes as he looked around the room. Maybe it was because he hung around Spyro too much, but this seemed too basic of a prank to be by itself. Looking around the room, he noticed a tarp hanging up on the ceiling with a rope leading out through a nearby window. _"Uh, Spyro..."_

Before he could say anything more though, the rope was pulled and the tarp gave way. Flame only had a few seconds to glance up as his jaw dropped, seeing several balloons about to fall down on him. They popped as they hit the ground, and not a second later a noxious fume started to fill the room. Flame gagged as his body jerked, feet still glued to the floor as he tried desperately to free himself.

"Gah! Okay, this is just cruel! Not cool, Ember!" he yelled between coughs, trying his best not to breathe through his nose.

Sparx and Spyro tried their best to suppress their laughter as Flame's face started to turn a sickly green, but as the breeze started to make its way out of the room, Spyro and Sparx were quick to hightail it out of there and back to the fresh air of the field. Once they were far enough away, Spyro fell to the ground and started laughing up a storm.

Sparx floated by with a chuckle, looking down at his buddy. _"Wow, I didn't think Ember had it in her. I was expecting something like her dropping a bucket of dye on him."_

"I'm surprised she's even willing to touch a stink bomb, let alone know how to make 'em!" Spyro said, rolling onto his back as he continued to laugh. "It may have been rather simple by my standards, but considering it was _Ember_ who set that up, I have to admit, I'm impressed."

As the laughter finally started to subside, Sparx wiped a tear from his eye. Floating down next to Spyro, he placed an elbow on his horn. _"So, now what? I get the feeling that hothead isn't going to take that laying down, and after his rather blatant slip earlier, I get the feeling his attempt to retaliate is going to involve you in some way."_

"So?"

_"Huh?"_

Spyro picked himself up off the ground and looked at Sparx, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "If Flame wants to trick me into taking one of Ember's pranks, then I say let him try."

Sparx looked at Spyro with one of his brows raised, before he crossed his arms. _"You feelin' all right, Spyro?"_

Spyro snorted, a cheeky grin on his face. "I doubt I'll fall for it. I've been dodging Hunter's pranks for the entire time I've known him, and if by some luck he _does_ manage to trick me, then hey, at least I'll be helping out by pranking someone else in the process."

Sparx narrowed his eyes. _"What about Ember, though? As Mr. Subtlety said earlier, I doubt she'll take accidentally pranking you too well."_

Spyro just nonchalantly waved his paw. "Eh, I'm sure she'll be fine. Remember? She promised that we were just friends."

Sparx shook his head. _"Spyro, just because she promised that doesn't mea—hey! Spyro, wait!"_

Sparx face-palmed as Spyro darted off. With a heavy sigh, he shrugged. _"Man, and I thought he was dense on_ normal _days of the week..."_

* * *

Flame growled as he lifted and shook his right front paw. Blades of grass kept sticking to his paws as he walked back into the plains. He had managed to use his fire breath to melt the glue and get out of the room, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't scrape the glue residue off his paws. Looking around the plain with a scowl, he knew he was going to have to strike back hard after what his sister had done. First it was a matter of actually finding her.

Despite the open spaces of the Artisan homeworld, not a single trace of pink could be seen. Flame sighed. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to allow Ember to take their war here. Looking around once more, he saw a flash of purple darting inside a building.

Flame smirked. He may not be able to find his sister, but if he hung around her idol for a while, then his chance of getting revenge was almost assured.

Only pausing for a few seconds in a futile attempt to get the grass off his paws, Flame darted off after Spyro as fast as his paws would carry him.

Spyro headed towards another one of the temples. He knew from personal experience that the temples were a good place to set up for some pranks. Whether or not Ember had already realized this fact was unknown to him, but, judging from her last prank, she wasn't new to April Fool's Day. Smirking, he picked up the pace. Sparx merely rolled his eyes as he saw Spyro's sudden burst of excitement.

 _'Geez, any day of the week Spyro would just consider her a friend and nothing more. Have her pull off one prank and suddenly he's the one looking for her,'_ Sparx thought, suppressing a chuckle as he followed Spyro into the temple.

Flame had followed close behind as he darted into the temple. Keeping a good eye on Spyro, he saw that Spyro had come to a stop as he looked around the room. He was obviously looking for any traps. Flame's face fell. If Spyro was already onto something, that meant his only edge at the moment might become a moot point. He knew he needed to do something and fast.

"Spyro!"

Spyro paused, looking back slightly to see Flame walking up to him, no doubt planning on using him as prank fodder. Spyro nonetheless managed to keep a rather convincing smile on his face. "Hey, Flame. Found Ember yet?"

Flame skidded to a stop, shaking his head as he put on a smile. "Not yet. You'd think, for a bright pink dragon, she'd stand out like a sore thumb in all this greenery, but I have yet to even catch her scent on the wind."

A goofy grin made its way to Spyro's face as he tried to suppress a giggle. "I'm surprised you can still smell anything after what happened in the other temple."

Flame tensed up at Spyro's words, a sheepish grin creeping onto his face. "Oh, heh... You saw that, huh?"

Spyro smirked, managing to suppress his laughter as he looked at Flame. "I'm still surprised Ember came up with that. When you said she makes an exception for this day, I was expecting simple stuff like whoopee cushions and prank calls."

Flame waved his paw, a devious smirk on his face. "Please, you don't give my sis enough credit," he said, pulling in closer to whisper into Spyro's ear.

"You probably don't know this since I'm willing to bet all she does is fawn over you when you're with her, and do _not_ tell her I said this, but...she can be quite the crafty dragoness when she needs to be," Flame said before he pulled back and put a paw behind his head.

"Speaking of which," Flame said with a slight yawn as he stretched before placing his paw back on the ground. "I think I might hang around you for a bit. With how much my sis likes to hang around you, I'm willing to bet she's bound to pop up sooner or later."

 _"Please, like we're really going to fall for that,"_ Sparx said, rolling his eyes as he turned to Spyro. _"Please tell me you're not going to play along with this, are you?"_

Spyro merely glanced up at his friend, the spark in his eyes all Sparx needed to know what he was thinking. As Sparx shook his head, Spyro looked back at Flame. "Fine by me. I'm actually interested to see what other pranks Ember has up her sleeve."

Flame did his best to suppress a smirk. _'Perfect!'_

As the seconds passed, neither dragon said anything. Sparx's face drooped in boredom as he watched the two dragons stare at each other, each one thinking they were so smart. Sparx shrugged.

 _"So, what now, chief?"_ Sparx said, floating down in front of the two dragons. _"We just going to stay here all day like sitting ducks?"_

Spyro shook his head before he placed a claw to his chin. "Well, let's see... Who have I yet to prank today?"

Flame stood silent as he noticed Spyro glancing at him. Narrowing his eyes and shooting Spyro a look that said 'try it and I'll torch you', he managed to get a laugh out of him. With a rather bored sigh, Flame glanced behind the purple dragon with a bored look in his eyes. His eyes quickly went wide when he noticed a quick flash of pink ducking behind the doorway. Ember had been watching them. He wasn't sure for how long, but now he knew where his sister was.

_'Perfect!'_

"Hey, Spyro."

Spyro came back to his senses when he heard Flame's voice. Flame was trying to put on his best poker face, though he couldn't suppress the smile that found its way onto his muzzle.

"Would you mind showing me around this place? This is my first time in this realm, so any edge I can get on my sis would be really nice."

Despite the general innocent tone behind his words, Spyro knew what he was really up to. Judging by the spark in his eyes, he could tell Flame had figured out something he hadn't. Regardless, Spyro faked a sincere smile.

"Sure, Flame. Fine by me," Spyro said. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't mask the slightly mischievous tone in his voice.

He knew what Flame was up to, and though he kept a friendly demeanor, his mind was already on overdrive. As he walked along with Flame following shortly behind, Spyro began to think to himself. Originally he thought about just going along with Flame's unspoken plan, considering he was at a disadvantage. However, having only met Flame a few times, his lack of subtlety in trying to hide his 'master plan' was starting to make Spyro consider otherwise. He'd had yet to prank this dragon, and he didn't accidentally want to hurt Ember, either.

That train of thought caused Spyro to glance up in thought as he walked. Sparx's words from earlier came buzzing back into his head. It had been a few months since Ember had promised to just remain friends with him for the time being, and in that time, without the dragoness' usual antics when she was around him, he had come to consider her a pretty good friend. Still, he wasn't fully sure why that thought had crossed his mind. He still loved to play pranks on his friends, even when it wasn't 'the magic day.'

Spyro let out a soft grunt, memories of what he had accidentally done on Valentine's Day resurfacing. Making a complete idiot out of himself in hopes of getting _that girl_ to like him, saying things he hadn't meant, seeing Ember as a complete wreck in those bushes because of it...

Spyro shook his head. Though he and Ember had managed to make amends, deep down he still hadn't fully forgiven himself for that. Was that why he was having second thoughts? He wasn't sure. He knew that sooner or later, he would have to make a decision before there was no going back.

It wasn't like he really had to worry, though. Being a self-proclaimed 'master pranker' and dealing with Hunter's retaliations had made him wise to pretty much every prank in the book. Though Ember had managed to impress him so far, he doubted he would easily fall into one of her—

"Spyro! _Stop!_ "

Spyro stumbled a bit as his foot caught something, forcing him to stop as he had to regain his balance. A slight snap was heard as a tripwire went off. Before Spyro had time to react, he heard a popping. A searing pain coursed through the place between his hind legs, and Spyro dropped to the ground with his eyes closed.

Flame busted up laughing, partly because of Spyro taking the prank that was intended for him, and partly because of the horrified reaction of the one who had set up the prank.

Ember stood at the end of the corridor, mouth agape and eyes wide with horror. As Spyro lay on the ground moaning in pain, she noticed the smug look on Flame's face. "No! Spyro! _I'm so sorry!_ "

"Really, sis'? The old 'party popper' gag? You try that one every year," Flame said, walking smugly past Spyro with a devious grin on his face.

Ember struggled to come up with a response, her mouth moving but no words escaping. "N-no fair! Leave Spyro out of this!"

"What's the matter, Ember?" Flame asked, walking up and getting in front of Ember's face. "I thought you'd been trying to get _down there_ for the past few months?"

Ember let out a growl as she narrowed her eyes, a scowl making its way onto her face. "F-Flame! You're—you...!" Ember stumbled over her words before she finally let out a shout of anger as she closed her eyes, darting off down the hallway.

Flame chuckled, a grin of victory on his face as he turned back to Spyro. "Sorry 'bout using you as cannon fodder, Spyro, but she forced my paw."

Flame paused as he looked down. As Spyro started to slowly pull himself off the floor, he shot Flame the coldest look he had ever seen. Despite the obvious displeasure on Spyro's face, Flame just nonchalantly waved a paw as he closed his eyes. "Come on, Spyro, I've been hit with that before. After the third time, it actually doesn't hurt as much."

As Flame chuckled, Spyro just continued to glare at him. Finally, without issuing a word, Spyro walked by with barely a glancing glare. Sparx floated in place for a few seconds as he blinked several times before he and Flame glanced at each other.

"What's his problem?"

Sparx shook his head at Flame's words before he darted after Spyro. As Flame watched the dragonfly fly off, all he could do was scratch his head in confusion.

* * *

_"Spyro! Wait up!"_

Sparx flew as fast as his wings would carry him, catching up with Spyro shortly after. Spyro was still making his way down the hall at a brisk pace, a stern look on his face. Sparx raised an eyebrow as he flew in front of the dragon's face.

 _"You gonna be okay?"_ he asked, crossing his arms. _"I know that move was a low blow...literally, but I've never seen you so upset over a prank before. Normally you'd just laugh it off and plot revenge."_

Spyro glanced over to Sparx, the look of tranquil fury never leaving his eyes. "I'm going to get Flame back for this. There's pranks, and then there's taking things too far."

Sparx faltered a bit in the air. He wasn't used to seeing Spyro this serious, and it was starting to seriously unnerve him. _"Uh, wasn't it technically Ember's—?"_

The glare from Spyro was all Sparx needed to know to shut up. Spyro shook his head as he left the temple, looking around the plains as he stayed silent. He heard faint sobbing nearby, a sound he hoped he wouldn't have to hear ever again. Walking closer to the sound, Spyro peered behind a rock.

Ember sat with her head down, a frown on her face as her eyelids drooped. Though no tears were coming down her face, the almost silent sobs were enough to let Spyro know that she wasn't taking Flame's counter-prank well.

"Ember?"

Ember jumped at hearing her name called, looking up in surprise when she saw Spyro peeking over the rock.

"Are you—?"

Spyro barely got the words out before Ember jumped up and placed her forelegs around Spyro. "Spyro, I'm sorry...! I didn't mean for you to get caught in that, honest!"

Spyro froze up for a few seconds. Outside of beating up baddies or getting hit in return, he was unused to being touched, especially when it came to being hugged. Finally, Spyro managed to gently pat Ember on the back. "I-It's alright, Ember. I'm fine, really. I know you didn't mean it."

Much to Spyro's relief, Ember let go a few seconds after he spoke. The dragoness had a faint smile on her face, but one could easily tell she was still a bit depressed. With a slight hop, Spyro jumped over the rock and onto the other side, sitting down next to Ember.

"So... I heard about the prank war between you and your brother," Spyro said, trying to quell the awkward silence that would soon kick in. "Also, the fact that you have a brother."

"Flame is an idiot," Ember said flatly, leaning up against the rock with a scowl. "He's the one who started all this in the first place. I pretty much _had_ to fight back or else he'd end up tearing our house down with his 'pranks'." Ember sighed, tilting her head up to look at the clouds. "And even then...he always ends up taking things too far."

 _"And trying to make sure your parents don't have grandkids_ isn't _?"_

Spyro glared at Sparx's comment, the dragonfly hovering nearby with a smirk on his face. Shaking his head, Spyro turned back to Ember.

"One year he took and read my diary out in front of the entire village after I dropped a water balloon on him, and another year he told me the nursery was on fire and when I ran to check on it, I tripped on a tripwire he set up, fell in a mud puddle, and tumbled into a tree in front of the whole village... All because I managed to trick him into gluing his paw to his forehead."

Ember closed her eyes, giving a sigh as her head drooped. "Then there was that _one_ year where he...he..." Ember's body shook. "Ugh, I can't even say it!"

Spyro frowned, eyes soft as he looked at Ember. Placing a paw on Ember's shoulder, Spyro tilted his head. "If you want, I can _persuade_ him to knock it off. "

Ember shook her head, looking over to Spyro with a soft smile on her face. "It's alright. On normal days of the week, Flame actually isn't all that bad. He's actually rather protective of me, in fact," Ember said before looking back down at the ground. "It's just... On this day, he doesn't understand the meaning of 'taking things too far.'"

Spyro paused as neither dragon said a word after that. He kept a soft gaze on Ember, her eyes drooping as she looked at the ground. Spyro frowned. He didn't like seeing his friends sad like this. After a few seconds of silence, a sudden glint of determination appeared in Spyro's eyes.

"Let me help you get him back, then," Spyro said, a confident grin appearing on his face. "I need to pay Flame back for what just happened, anyway."

Ember sighed. "Thanks, Spyro, but this is my problem. Beside, I don't want you accidentally getting hurt again because of this."

Spyro smirked, nonchalantly waving his paw. "That? Please. I've been injured a lot worse than that on my adventures. Besides, once the pain started to go away, it actually _was_ a pretty funny prank."

_"The fact that you'll never have children now not withstanding."_

Once again, Spyro shot Sparx a glare. The dragonfly whistled as he glanced up to the sky. With an annoyed grunt, Spyro turned back to Ember.

"So?" Spyro asked, his expression softening as he gave a confident smile. "Can I help?"

Ember paused, lowering her head as she thought for a few seconds. She glanced back at Spyro, a bit of worry on her face. Finally, she raised her head. "What do you have in mind?"

Spyro smirked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

* * *

Flame wandered out of the temple with a smug smirk on his face. It had been some time since Ember's last attempt at a prank had backfired on her, and he had yet to see a trace of pink since. Normally, this would cause him to worry about what possible prank the dragoness had in retaliation, but from the look on her face when she'd stormed out of the temple, he knew for a fact that he had managed to win their April Fool's war.

 _'Like always,'_ Flame thought to himself, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. _'I win. I'm getting really good at this. Still have half the day left.'_

With a stretch, Flame glanced lazily around the realm. He didn't really remember where the portal back to Dragon Village was, and with Ember solidly defeated, he wasn't exactly sure what to do with the rest of his day.

_'Suppose, while I'm here, I might as well check out the sights.'_

With an annoyed grunt, he lazily made his way out onto the plain. Flame wasn't the kind of dragon who really understood 'fine art.' What seemed like a well-crafted temple for royalty just looked like a white building to him. Regardless, Flame decided to at least give it a chance. Looking around, he walked along a nearby wall.

_'Let's see... Giant white building, hedge maze, pool of water, Flame still sleeps with a teddy bear—'_

Flame paused before he did a double take. Once he had realized what he had just read, he charged at a nearby wall. There were a bunch of papers tapped together with the sentence that made Flame's blood run cold. Looking back, he saw some of the adult dragons laying lazily around the field. Throwing his back against the giant banner, Flame gulped. Who in the Dragon Realms could have done such a thing? How did they find about—?

_'Ember!'_

Flame scowled at the thought, a puff of smoke escaping his nostril. Turning around, he ripped the banner down and crumpled it up before tossing it down and lighting it on fire. Flame growled as he glanced around the plains. _'I can't believe her! I turn one prank around on her and now she's doing this! Ugh, when I find her I'm going to prank her so hard she'll—!"_

Flame's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped when he saw another banner across the fields. Just like the first, in big bold words, the sentence 'Flame is a massive anime nerd' stood out like a sore thumb. Without a second thought, Flame charged over in a blur of red scales and ripped it down, setting it on fire not a second later. Flame wiped his forehead, but he didn't have time to relax for long as he saw another banner with one of his secrets written down on it.

As Flame ping-ponged back and forth, finding more and more banners placed all over the Artisan Realm, multiple dragons raised their heads as a red blur darted by. On top of the plains above, a purple and pink figure could be seen watching the entire scene. Spyro was close to nearly bursting out in laughter as he chuckled, while Ember was doing her best to suppress her soft chuckles.

"I still say we should have done this in Dragon Village. Would have been more humiliating for him," Spyro whispered in between his chuckles.

Ember shook her head, glancing over to Spyro. "Come on, Spyro. I don't want to _completely_ stoop to his level," she said, giving Spyro a slight push on the shoulder. "Besides, by the time Flame finally finds the portal back to Dragon Village, April Fool's Day would have long been over."

Spyro laughed before he went back to watching Flame scurrying along. Ember tried in vain to stop chuckling at the sight, a smile on her face. "I'd like to see what Flame thinks after this. Hopefully, he'll think twice from now on before going wild with his so-called pranks."

Spyro smirked, glancing over to Ember. "Please, this is only the beginning. Just watch and wait..."

Flame took deep breaths as he forced himself to walk through the middle of the field. By now, he had caught the attention of pretty much every adult dragon currently out at the time. Lowering his head as he paused to catch his breath, he had to force himself to look around for anymore of those horrid banners. He nearly let out a yell of fear when he saw the last one out in the open. Despite being the shortest out of all the sentences that had been on the banners, it was the one that nearly made him jump out of his skin.

'Flame likes ponies'

Feeling a sudden second wind as his body tensed up, Flame summoned what little energy he had left to dart over to the banner. With a jump, he tore his claws into it and brought it down.

Not a second later, a rather _interesting_ sound rung out throughout the field, almost like a massive express of air was being forced out of a small hole. Flame paused, eyes wide as he didn't dare move. Finally, summoning whatever courage he had, he glanced back.

Nearly all the adult dragons were giving him a strange look. Flame felt the blood rushing to his face as he didn't move. Finally, without bothering to burn the banner, he darted for a nearby temple.

As Flame disappeared out of sight, Spyro busted up laughing. Despite the childish simplicity of the last part of the prank, Ember was trying her best, and failing rather badly, to suppress her giggling.

"How did you set that up?" she finally asked, glancing over to Spyro while still trying to suppress her laughter.

Taking a deep breath, Spyro finally managed to stop laughing for a few seconds as he looked at Ember. "Well, Ems, let's just say I know a thing or two about setting up elaborate pranks."

As Spyro chuckled, the two dragons looked back at the ground below. Despite what had happened earlier, most of the dragons below had gotten back to some sense of normality. Though, a few could be seen holding their noses. Spyro glanced over to Ember, a smirk on his face.

"So, what do you think? Think your bro has learned his lesson?"

Ember put her claw to her chin as she glanced up at the sky. After a few seconds of contemplation, she looked at Spyro with a devious grin.

"I have an idea!"

* * *

Flame ran through a temple, cheeks still bright pink as he ducked behind a corner. Taking a few deep breaths, he growled. Ember was _not_ going to get away with that. The first thought that came to mind was to return to Dragon Village and get her diary, and then make a repeat performance of what had happened that one year. Flame grunted, realizing the main flaw with that plan. He didn't know how to get back to the portal he'd come through.

Glancing around the corner, Flame looked around carefully. There was no sign of Ember or any more of her pranks. Flame cautiously headed out into the hall. His head picked up as he heard the faint sound of music echoing throughout the hallway, oddly familiar. Curious, Flame made his way towards where it was coming from.

_"...Applause, applause, applause! I live for the applause-plause live for the applause-plause live for the—"_

Flame paused, his eyes wide as the familiar off-key tone made its way to his ears. Charging down the hallway, he rounded a corner into a room. Nearly shouting in fear as his mouth dropped at what he saw, he froze.

In the middle of the room stood a giant television screen, with several speakers around the room. As a few dragons in the room glanced at the screen bemusedly, it showed Flame wearing a pair of sunglasses as he danced around the room, singing one of Dragon-Gaga's latest hits.

Flame gulped as he heard a few of the dragons start chuckling, the blush coming back to his face. Without a second thought, Flame charged forward and smashed into the TV screen, a mess of electronics and wires flying everywhere. As the 'music' cut and the crashing sounds subsided, Flame poked his head out of the mess to see the group of dragons looking at him oddly. With a gulp, Flame stumbled out of the mess and darted out into the hall.

From a nearby window, Spyro and Ember watched the scene with silly grins on their faces. Once Flame was out of earshot, Spyro busted up laughing as Ember chuckled.

"Oh man! I had no idea Flame was into that!" Spyro said in between his laughter, raising his paw for a high-five.

Ember was quick to return the gesture, raising her paw and clapping it against Spyro's with a grin on her face. "You'd be surprised at the amount of stuff Flame keeps secret. Despite all his boasting and trying to act cool, he's really a big geek when no one's looking."

Looking back down at the mess below, Ember saw a bunch of chuckling dragons as a few of them tried to clean up the mess of wires and broken electronics.

A soft frown appeared on Ember's face before she glanced over to Spyro. "I don't know though, Spyro. Maybe _we're_ starting to take things a bit too far now..."

Spyro waved his paw nonchalantly as he looked at Ember. "Ah, c'mon, Ems. I'd say Flame singing Applause is the least embarrassing thing you could have revealed about him."

Ember shook her head as she looked back down at the room below. "I don't know, Spyro..." Ember muttered, though she was quick to raise an eyebrow and look back at Spyro. "Wait, how did you know what the song's name was?"

Spyro paused, quickly diverting his eyes. "U-uh, well, you know... Dragon-Gaga is rather popular and all so... Uh..."

Ember titled her head, fixated on Spyro's sudden nervous twitching.

"Spyro... Do you like Dragon-Gaga?"

"Wh-what!? No! Of course not! It's just, uh—" Spyro said in rapid succession, looking around quickly as he struggled for a way to respond. "Hey! I have an idea! Let's see if Flame has learned his lesson from all this! Yeah!"

Before Ember could say anything else, Spyro darted off. Glancing up to Sparx, who diverted his eyes as he whistled, Ember shook her head before she jumped down and chased after Spyro.

* * *

In an undisclosed location of the Artisan Realm, a short hooded figure in a cloak darted by a tree. Poking his head out, he saw that the main part of the realm was coming into view. He let out an evil chuckle as he grasped his jewel-encrusted scepter. He had recently learned a new spell, one that was very much in the spirit of today, and he knew just who he wanted to test it out on. After the humiliation that purple terror had caused him, he was about to return the favor.

As he slowly made his way towards the field, a single horn poked out of the top of his hood.

* * *

Flame ran out onto the field, the blush still on his face as he gritted his teeth. As he ran, his foot caught a rock and caused him to trip. Toppling over himself as he rolled, he finally skidded to a stop neck-first. Grunting in pain, he opened his eyes and glanced up, seeing a pink figure in front of him.

"Had enough?"

Flame growled, jumping up and getting right in front of Ember's face with a scowl.

"What. The. _Heck._ Ember!?" he yelled, glaring directing into the dragoness' blue eyes. "We were supposed to be pranking each other, not revealing each other's secrets for the entire realm to hear!"

This time, it was Ember's turn to narrow her eyes as she scowled. "You mean like that time you read my diary to the entire village?"

"Th-that was completely different! I was putting a sarcastic spin on it as I read it, which made it funny!"

"It was humiliating!" Ember shouted, pushing forward and causing Flame to stumble back a bit. "Point is, I'm tired of you _always_ taking things too far when you're the one who always starts it! This time, I wanted to see how you liked it!"

Spyro stood a bit of the ways back, a concerned look on his face as the two dragons started to bicker. He had never seen Ember so angry since...well, _never_.

"I take things too far? _I take things too far!?_ What about that time you put hot chilli pepper on all door handles of our house!? My eyes ended up burning for hours!"

"I only did _that_ because you dyed my scales blue while I was still sleeping! On top of that, need I remind you of the so-called _prank_ you pulled in retaliation!?"

"Oh, come on! It was funny!"

_"I ended up in the hospital with pink eye because of that_ _prank_ _!"_

Spyro gulped as he glanced up at Sparx. "I think I may have done a bad thing, Sparx..."

Flame paused when he heard Spyro speak up. Despite the chaos that was going on, Flame took noticed of the purple dragon's presence. Spyro froze when he saw Flame glance at him, a smirk appearing on Flame's face as he put two and two together.

"Oh, _I_ get it now!" he said smugly as he turned back to Ember. "You knew you couldn't take me on by yourself, so you had to have your _boyfriend_ help you! Well, keep out of this!"

Spyro flinched a bit at Flame's words. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but Ember beat him to it. "He's not my boyfriend! We're just friends!"

"Please! As I said yesterday, just because you promised something doesn't mean it changes how you feel!"

Spyro peeled back a bit as the arguing got more intense. A sudden feeling of guilt washing over him, he looked back up at Sparx. "I think I may have done a _really_ bad thing, Sparx."

Spyro looked back at the two arguing siblings, concern on his face as he shuffled around nervously. The more the two shouted, the more unnerved Spyro started to feel. He grabbed his head as he closed his eyes, trying to block out the hateful words being thrown around. In the back of his mind, it was almost like he could hear another set of voices yelling at each other, which was quickly followed by more and more voices. Though he was unsure what they were saying or who they really were, all he knew was it tormented him greatly. Seeing Spyro's sudden distress, Sparx flew down next to him.

_"Spyro...? You okay?"_

"I... I...!"

Spyro didn't have much time to dwell on the torment for long, as not a moment after he tried to come up with a response, an explosion rang out on the field. Spyro looked up to see a flash of light, and Ember and Flame rolled backwards as a scorch mark appeared where they were once standing. Spyro was about to charge in to make sure they were okay when another flash of light appeared in front of him, forcing him to close his eyes.

"It's been a while, dragon!"

Spyro pulled his wing out from in front of his face, slowly opening his eyes as his vision blurred. As things slowly came back into focus, Spyro began to recognize the familiar figure in front of him.

"Ripto!"

The orange raptor smirked as he waved his scepter towards the dragon. Spyro hunched down with a growl, baring his teeth. Glancing over to make sure Ember and Flame were okay—both dragons were slowly picking themselves up as they looked at one of the Dragon Realm's most infamous villains with awe and terror—Spyro glanced back at Ripto.

"What do you want!? Come to get your butt handed to you again!?" Spyro taunted, a confident smirk on his face.

"On the contrary, dragon! Today, I will be the one who kicks your rear!" Ripto said, a smug look on his face as he slammed the bottom of his scepter into the ground.

Spyro scoffed, keeping his eyes on the short villain as his muscles tensed up. "Sorry, not sure what book you've been reading, but based on past experience, things aren't going to end well for you!"

"Oh really?" Ripto asked in a condescending tone, pointing his scepter at Spyro. "Well, I'd hate to disappoint you, dragon, but today that trend ends now!"

A puff of smoke floated out of Spyro's nostril as he glared at Ripto. Without a second thought, he charged forward with his horns lowered. With a devious smirk, Ripto raised his scepter as it began to glow with a blue light.

"Foolist!"

Ripto sidestepped as his scepter flashed. Spyro glanced up in time to see the movement and went to readjust his angle so he would still hit his target. But as his front paws touched the ground, he nearly toppled over as he struggled to keep his balance. As he continued to charge forward against his will, Spyro fell forward and started rolling, smacking into a marble pillar upside-down.

Shaking his head as he glared at Ripto, Spyro was surprised to see two pairs of roller-skates on his paws. As they disappeared in a puff of magic, Spyro righted himself and glared at Ripto. The short sorcerer had a smug look on his face.

"Like it? Just a little spell I came up with for today," Ripto said in a nonchalant tone, tapping his scepter on his shoulder. "You see, dragon, I don't just intend to beat you. I intend to humiliate you in the process!"

Spyro narrowed his eyes, letting out a low growl as he charged forward. Nostrils flaring, Spyro opened his mouth as an orange glow began to shine in the back of his throat. Ripto made a yawning motion as he pointing his scepter at Spyro. "Foolist!"

As Spyro went to shoot a blast of flames at Ripto, he was surprised to see that all that came out was multi-colored confetti. Coughing out a bit of confetti, Spyro glared at Ripto, who had crossed his arms, the smug look never leaving his face. With a growl, Spyro went to shoot another burst of flames at Ripto. The sorcerer merely rolled his eyes.

"Foolist!"

Spyro was caught off guard as only a puff of smoke shot from his muzzle. What _really_ caught him off guard, though, was where his flames _had_ shot out from, a place where they should _never_ shoot from, accompanied by a rather embarrassing sound. Sparx glanced at Spyro as he reeled back a little, and Spyro felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he heard a faint chuckling. It was quickly followed by a rather loud 'Ow!' and a _thwack_ sound, however.

Flame rubbed his head, glaring at his sister as she gave him a serious glare. Looking back at the battlefield, they saw that, despite the rather _interesting_ events of the battle so far, Spyro was determined not to give up. Ripto yawned, the gesture only enraging the purple dragon even more.

"Bleh, this is starting to get boring!" Ripto said, scratching his head as he glanced away.

Spyro growled, nostrils nearly shooting out fire as he became more and more angered. Even against some of the Sorceress' more dangerous enemies, he had never struggled this much to win. Without much thought and running on sheer determination not to lose, Spyro charged forward again. With an evil smirk, Ripto raised his scepter.

"Foolist!"

As Spyro charged forward, he was quickly stopped as a snare grabbed his legs, tightening into a noose and causing him to topple over as he struggled to free his legs. Before he had a chance to do anything, though, the rope quickly dragged him into a nearby temple. Sparx gasped as he went to chase after him, but was quickly stopped when an open jar was dropped on him.

"Spy— _eek!_ "

Ripto raised an eyebrow, looking behind him. All he saw was a bush slightly shaking. With a shrug, he turned back and picked up the jar Sparx was in, the dragonfly glaring at Ripto as he placed a lid over it. With an evil smirk, Ripto burst out into an evil laugh.

"Yes! Finally! I finally beat that stupid purple dragon!" Ripto proclaimed proudly, holding Sparx's jar under his arm. With a smug look about him, he glanced around the Artisan Realm. "Ya' know, this place ain't half bad. I think, as my first act after beating that purple nightmare, I'll make it my new base..."

* * *

Ember struggled to free herself from Flame's grip, but he kept a firm paw over her mouth as he glanced outside the bush. Ripto was making his way towards the temple Spyro had been dragged off to, unaware of the two dragons observing him. Once he was out of sight, Flame let go of Ember. She jumped back and looked at Flame.

"We need to help Spyro!" were the first words out of her mouth, a serious look in her eyes as she went to dart off towards the temple.

Flame quickly grabbed his sister by the tail, pulling her back into the bush before she got too far. Ember gave him an annoyed glare, but Flame gave a stern look in return.

"Are you nuts!?" he said, grabbing his sister by the shoulders to make sure she didn't try anything stupid. "That's Ripto! _Ripto!_ One of the biggest enemies to dragonkind!" Flame looked his sister directly in the eyes. "We wouldn't stand a chance against him, especially after he managed to take down Spyro!"

Ember wasn't deterred, her eyes still having a determined look to them. "We have to do something, though! We can't just leave Spyro and Sparx at his mercy!"

"I'm sure the elders are already doing something as we speak! I mean, if Ripto can be beaten by a dragon around our age, what are the odds of him standing up to an army of adult ones?"

As soon as Flame had uttered that sentence, though, he and Ember heard a faint yelling. Looking outside the bush, they saw an adult dragon flying into the air against his will with a jetpack strapped to his back. Not a second later, an explosion rung out as several dragons were sent flying out the windows of the temple. As the chaos went on throughout the temple, Ember glanced at Flame with a flat expression.

"You were saying?"

Flame glared at Ember in annoyance before shaking his head. "That still doesn't change anything! If Spyro and the elders can't beat him, what makes you think we can?"

"We at least have to try!"

"Ember, I get that you have a crush on Spyro, bu—hey! Ember, _wait!_ "

As Flame reached out in an attempt to grab his sister again, he was already too late as Ember darted out of the bush and towards the temple. Flame growled as he slapped his forehead. Slowly lowering his paw, he stared flatly at his sister. "I swear, one of these days, she's going to get me killed."

* * *

Spyro growled, all four of his paws tied to ropes which were tied down to pillars. His mouth bound shut as he hung in the air, he glared angrily towards Ripto. Ripto had a smug look on his face. Here was the creature that had caused him so much trouble, tied up and helpless, unable to do anything to stop him. True, Ripto could have finished him off at any time, but where would the fun be in that?

"Well, dragon. How does it feel to finally lose?"

Spyro narrowed his eyes, a puff of smoke flaring out of his nostrils. Ripto smirked.

"Not so 'awesome' now, are you?" Ripto said, twirling his scepter as he pointed it in the air.

With a flash of bright light, a TV Camera appeared in the room. Spyro raised an eyebrow at the sight as Ripto walked forward in front of it. He noticed Spyro's confusion and a devious grin appeared on his face.

"Wondering what I'm doing, dragon?" he asked, tapping his scepter on his shoulder. "Well, I suppose I should explain it before I get you out of the way for good." Ripto began to pace back and forth.

"You see, dragon, before I begin my conquest of the Dragon Realms, I plan on getting my revenge. I can take you out at any time now, but that alone won't satisfy me after all the humiliation you caused me," Ripto said before he twirled around and pointed his scepter at Spyro.

"So, before I make sure you're never a problem to me again, I plan on humiliating you like you did to me so many times before. As we speak, this camera is broadcasting this all over the Dragon Realms. Soon, the Realms shall see Spyro, one of its greatest heroes, completely helpless and ridiculed by my magic. Then, once I'm sure I've made you the laughing stock of the realms...I'll kill you."

Spyro growled, gritting his teeth despite the rope keeping his mouth shut. Ripto looked at him smugly before turning to the camera.

* * *

Ember ran down the hallway, her eyes focused. She knew she had to do something. She wasn't sure _what_ she should do, or if she even had a chance at all, but she couldn't leave Spyro with that madman. She had to try, no matter how dangerous it was. As she ran, several small holographic screens appeared along the hallway's walls, causing her to slow down a bit in confusion.

"Greetings, people of the Dragon Realms. It is I, your soon-to-be ruler, Ripto. I suppose you're wondering why I'm interrupting whatever stupid thing you may be watching..."

Ember glared at the screen, having tuned Ripto out as she noticed the dragon tied up behind him. Spyro was struggling to free himself as the ropes held firm, while Ripto went on and on about how he was going to rule the realms or whatever. Ember didn't care as she narrowed her eyes, feeling more determination build up in her.

"...And so, as my first act as your soon-to-be ruler, before I finish him for good, I will completely humiliate the being who has stood in my way this whole time. So then, say hello to your former pathetic hero."

As Ripto stepped out of the way so the camera could get a better view of Spyro, he pointed his scepter at the dragon. "Foolist!"

The scepter glowed blue, and it didn't take long for the magic to take effect. As Spyro continued to struggle, the top scales on his head started to sparkle. In an instant, a yellow afro appeared on his head. Spyro paused, glancing up at the new growth on his head before looking down at Ripto with an unimpressed expression.

Ripto frowned before he twirled his scepter. "Don't give me that look, dragon! That was only the beginning! Foolist!"

As the scepter glowed blue once again, a faint glow started to surround Spyro. Not a second later, in a flash of light, a pink ballet dress with a tutu appeared on Spyro. Spyro flinched a bit at the more embarrassing getup, but quickly hid it as he glared at Ripto. No matter _what_ stupid thing Ripto did to him, he _wasn't_ going to let him get any satisfaction out of it.

Ripto scowled at Spyro's unwavering expression, swinging his staff forward dramatically. "Alright then, dragon! If you want to play that game, then try _this_ on for size!"

Ember growled as she watched Ripto try to torture Spyro with his spell. Now she _knew_ she had to do something, even if she fell flat on her face in her attempt to save him. As she went to pick up the pace again, she was halted when she heard a voice echoing down the hall behind her.

"Ember!"

Ember glanced back to see Flame heading her way. Frowning, she turned around.

"Don't try to stop me, Flame!" she said, narrowing her eyes at her brother. "I don't care how dangerous it is! Spyro needs help!"

Flame skidded to a stop, panting for a few seconds before he glared at Ember. "You're going to get yourself killed, Ember! Forget about your stupid obsession while you're still breathing!"

Ember scowled. "This has nothing to do with how I might feel about Spyro! He needs help right now, and that's all that matters!"

Flame let out an irritated growl. "Then let's go back to Dragon Village and get some help! Anything is better than trying to take on Ripto by yourself!"

"We don't have time, Flame!" Ember said, getting in front of his face with a stern glare. "You heard Ripto! Once he's done trying to make fun of Spyro, he plans on killing him! If we don't do something soon—!"

"Yes, I get that! But what chance do you have at even lasting a second against him!? I don't want you getting killed too!"

"Why do you even care!?"

That question caught Flame off guard, causing him to stagger back slightly as Ember gave him a piercing glare.

"Wh-wha...?"

"You heard me!" Ember said, keeping a firm stare on him. "Why do you care!? You always try to hurt me in some way on this day! Either it's something personal, like revealing my diary to everyone, or it's an 'accident' that causes me to have to go to the hospital!"

"That's all just part of our yearly prank—"

"The only reason I even bother with that is because you won't stop!" Ember said, her blue eyes full of anger as she stared Flame straight in the eyes. "If I don't, then you'd end up taking things even further than usual! So why, Flame!? Why do you care!?"

"Because you're my sister!" Flame yelled, pushing forward and getting in front of Ember's face.

A silence soon followed as neither dragon said anything, the silence broken only by the sound of Ripto's increasingly annoyed babbling. It seemed Spyro was still stubbornly refusing to react, despite what Ripto threw at him. Finally, Flame sighed as his gaze softened.

"Listen, Ember. I'm sorry if I take things too far. I honestly don't mean to. I just get so caught up in what I thought was a fun game between us that I forget how some of the stuff I pull can really hurt you," he said, looking away with some slight shame on his face.

"But that doesn't change the fact that we're family. Ember, you're my sister and always will be. No matter what kind of crazy crap I pull, that doesn't mean I don't care about you. I'm sorry, Ember. I promise I'll stop it with these prank wars... I just—I just don't want to see you put yourself in danger like this."

Both dragons went silent again. Ember stared at Flame, who averted his eyes as he looked down. Despite the sincerity behind his words, somehow Ember could feel there was more to it than what he was letting on. She was about to say something, but a loud shout of frustration interrupted her.

Glancing at the screen, she saw Ripto stomping up and down in the face of Spyro's defiance. Spyro, despite the rather odd attire Ripto had put him in, merely stuck his tongue out at the short sorcerer. The action only served to infuriate Ripto even more as he nearly conjured up a fireball in rage.

Ember looked back at Flame with a concerned look, Flame having watched the scene too. Looking back to see his sister's worry, Flame lowered his head and sighed. "Let me guess... You're still going to go through with this crazy rescue mission anyway, huh?"

Ember gave Flame a stern glance, nodding. Flame closed his eyes, frowning as he shook his head. Taking a few seconds to take a deep breath, he finally looked up at his sister with a determined look. "Okay then. Since I can't talk you out of this, the least I can do is make sure you don't get yourself killed. I don't like this...but I'm in."

Ember's eyes lit up at hearing her brother's words. Jumping forward, she gave him a hug. Flame was a bit caught off guard by the sudden action, but quickly returned the hug.

"Thank you, Flame."

As the two dragons parted, Flame looked at Ember and crossed his front legs as he sat on his hind legs. "So, what's the plan?"

Ember paused at Flame's question. With a sheepish grin, she looked away as she tapped her index claws together. "Well..."

Flame's expression flattened as he looked at Ember. "Let me guess... You don't have a plan, do you?"

"...Not really," Ember said flatly before she looked back at her brother. "I was kind of planning on just going in and winging it. From what Spyro told me, that's how he usually does things. So, I was kind of hoping that it'd work for us too."

Flame face-palmed. Seeing her brother's distress, Ember crossed her forelegs. "Well then, what do you suggest we do?"

Flame paused, glancing up as he placed a claw to his chin. Glancing over to the screen that showed Spyro and Ripto, he finally looked back at Ember with a confident smirk.

"I have an idea."

* * *

A yellow afro was on the top of his normally scaly head, he had a pair of goofy glasses on, make-up was smeared over his face, his horns were flashing a multitude of colors, he was wearing a pink tutu, and his claws had been dyed bright pink. Despite _all_ of this, though, Spyro still defiantly glared at Ripto, refusing to react and managing to keep his cool by getting some sort of satisfaction at how frustrated the short raptor was getting.

Ripto growled, gripping his scepter so tightly that he nearly broke it in two. His whole point coming here today had been to humiliate Spyro before finishing him off, but so far nothing he had thrown at him had caused Spyro to break down like he had hoped. Part of him was screaming just to finish him off once and for all, but another, greater part of him wanted some more definite closure. He was going to completely ruin this dragon's reputation one way or another, no matter how long it took.

Raising his scepter to cast another spell, Ripto was caught off guard when a rock smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey, shorty!"

Ripto's head shot back as he looked at where the rock had come from. Standing in the nearby doorframe, Flame stuck his tongue out at him.

"You're pretty brave when you're facing a dragon who's tied up! Now how about trying a dragon who can actually fight back!?"

Ripto growled as he glared at the dragon, waving his scepter and firing a blast of magical fire at him. Flame jumped out of the way with a smirk.

"Missed me!"

Growling, Ripto started to conjure up even more fireballs to throw at the dragon. Despite being rather intimidated, Flame managed to hide it rather well as he managed to stay one step ahead of him.

"Sorry!"

"Nope!"

"Oh, so close!

"Try again!"

Ripto was practically fuming as he almost snapped his staff in half. Jumping up and down in rage, a scowl on his face, he ran forward. "Okay, dragon! You asked for it!"

Flame was quick to charge off down the hallway when he saw Ripto chasing after him. Ripto nearly slid into a wall as he shot several fire balls after him.

Spyro watched wide-eyed as Ripto left the room. What the heck was Flame up to? There was no way he could fight Ripto on his own. Spyro began to struggle in an attempt to free one of his paws from the ropes he was attached to. Though at first it was to no avail, he was thrown off balance for a second as one of the ropes went limp. Looking down, he saw Ember untying them.

Glancing up, she smiled. "Looks like it's my turn to help you now."

Spyro rolled his eyes, though he couldn't hide the slight smile on his face.

* * *

Ripto growled as Flame rolled out of the way of a fireball before darting down another hallway. Exactly what was it with young dragons thinking they could stand a chance against him? With a groan, Ripto charged forward and circled around the hallway, charging into the only room at the end of it.

As he headed in, he slowed as he saw there were no other ways out of the room. A sadistic grin appeared on his face before he began to look around.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, dragon!" he said, keeping his scepter at the ready for any sign of movement.

However, as Ripto made his way further in, he paused. Not because he was stumped or anything, but because his feet wouldn't lift off the floor. Glancing down in annoyance, he had found his feet had been glued to the floor.

"Gah! What the— _ack!"_

Before Ripto could figure out what had happened, a barrage of stink bombs fell down on him. From outside the room, Flame giggled as he held onto a rope. He had to admit, that _was_ pretty funny when you weren't on the receiving end of it.

The humorous scene quickly ended, however, when an explosion rang out. Flame was quick to dart away as Ripto came charging out of the room, chunks of the marble floor still stuck to his feet.

* * *

Ripto scowled as he ran down a hallway. He could have sworn he saw that dragon run down this way. What was it about young dragons that made them so much harder to deal with than adults? It annoyed him greatly as he held his scepter in the air, now tempted to just start firing randomly and bring the entire place down on them. As he ran, he felt something tug at his leg before a snapping sound was heard.

Pausing as he glanced around, hearing more and more mechanisms going off, Ripto held his scepter at the ready. Whatever that dragon had planned, he wasn't going to be caught off guard this time!

POP!

Ripto's eyes went wide as tears welled up in his eyes, pain surging from between his legs as he fell over, letting go of his scepter as he groaned in agony. The scepter slid for a few seconds before the gem on top was caught by a purple paw.

Ripto glanced up to see Spyro standing there with a smirk on his face, that stupid red dragon and some girly-looking pink dragon behind him. Ripto quickly tried to get to his feet, but before he could, Spyro brought his paw down and smashed the gem on the scepter. As he got to his feet, Ripto gulped at the three very angry looking dragons now glaring at him. Chuckling slightly as he slowly began to back away, he gave a sheepish smile.

"U-uh, heh, heh... April Fools?"

As Spyro took a step forward, Ripto let out a yelp before he ran down the hallway. As Spyro went to chase after him, he was stopped as both Flame and Ember put their paws on his shoulders.

"Don't worry, Spyro," Flame said, a smirk on his face.

"We've got this," Ember finished, a devious smile on hers.

* * *

Ripto panted, looking back to make sure he wasn't being followed by those accursed monsters. He growled as he looked forward. He couldn't believe it. He'd had Spyro. He could have finished him right then and there, but no. He had to get revenge by trying to humiliate him. On top of that, in his rage from that other dragon's taunting, he had completely forgotten about his 'foolist' spell. How could he have been such an idiot?

Ripto shook his head. Once he got a new scepter, he would have to remember this. Next time, he _wouldn't_ let his pride get in his way. He wouldn't be making the same mistakes twice.

As he ran, he heard another snapping sound. Ripto jumped, looking around as instinctively he covered his most valuable area. He heard a rumbling sound and the ground shook. His eyes went wide, but by the time he realized what was going on, it was already too late.

"Ah, _sh—_ "

Ripto screamed at the top of his lungs as he was catapulted out of the temple, flying off into the sunset until he was naught but a fading twinkle in the sky.

* * *

It was late in the evening. The orange sky was slowly giving way to a soft shade of purple as the three dragons sat out in front of the temple.

"Anyway, here you go," Bianca said, handing each dragon an amulet. "This should protect you from Ripto's spell should he ever try that again."

"I'm surprised Ripto found out about that spell. It's a rather ancient one, and most scrolls that explained how to cast it were destroyed many eras back. Despite being a rather simple spell, you'd be surprised by the chaos it caused. Nearly brought the empire it was made in to its knees before these counter amulets were made in response," Bianca said, a slight chuckle escaping her lips.

Spyro looked at the amulet. It was mostly blue, with a red X over what appeared to be a whoopee-cushion. Shrugging, Spyro put the amulet away. "Thanks, Bianca."

"No problem," she said, a smile on her face before she walked away.

Spyro smirked and glanced over to Flame and Ember. He gulped before placing a paw behind his head.

"Um, uh... Thanks for uh...helping me out back there," Spyro said, his voice a bit shaky. He was used to people thanking him for saving them, not the other way around.

Ember giggled. "No problem, Spyro."

"Yeah. It was actually kind of fun playing the hero. Now I know why you go out of your way to do it," Flame said, eyes closed as he grinned. Opening them, his expression softened. "Also, sorry about getting you caught up in our prank war earlier."

"It's no problem. But really, I don't think it's me you should be apologizing to."

Flame paused, a bit surprised by the serious expression on Spyro's face. It didn't take long for him to take the hint, though, as he glanced back at Ember with his face drooping. "Uh, sis?"

"Yes, Flame?"

Flame sighed. "Again, I'm sorry if I've took things too far in our past prank wars. From now on, I'm not going to prank you on April Fool's Day again. Dragon's promise."

Ember smiled, though she couldn't shake the feeling that Flame wasn't telling her something. It felt like she wasn't getting the full story. She wanted to ask, though unsure if she should press the subject, but before she could, Sparx flew in front of the group.

 _"Ah! Feels good to be out of that jar!"_ he said, stretching as he took a deep breath. _"Still can't believe how crazy today's been. April Fool's Day is never dull in the Dragon Realms, but holy cow."_

"There's _never_ a dull day in the Dragon Realms, Sparx," Spyro said with a cheeky grin.

_"Well, that's true too."_

Sparx chuckled, though he did glance at Spyro. In all this excitement, he had almost forgotten about what had happened before Ripto showed up, with how Spyro had been rather unnerved by Flame and Ember's fighting. It had been incredibly odd, as he had never seen Spyro act like that before. He was about to speak up, but much like Ember, he was cut off before he could ask.

"So, what are we suppose to do now?" Flame asked, looking around at the two other dragons.

Spyro was just about to speak up, but just before he did...

CLANG!

A bucket of water had fallen onto him, drenching him completely. Flame was caught off guard as he looked around, while Ember gasped and put her paws in front of her mouth.

"Hah!" a voice called before Hunter poked his head out from behind the bushes. "Told ya' I'd pay ya' back for earlier today!"

Spyro paused, slowly raising the bucket off his head as he glared at Hunter. Looking back at Flame and Ember, he glanced between the two for a few seconds before a smirk made its way onto his face. "You know, April Fool's Day isn't over just yet..."

Flame and Ember looked at Spyro before they glanced at each other. As they looked back at Spyro, devious grins on their faces, all three dragons looked at Hunter. Seeing the mischievous grins on their faces, Hunter gulped.

"U-uh, what's that Bianca!? You want me to water the dogs!? Coming!"

As Hunter darted away, the three dragons looked at each other before they nodded. As all three began to chase after Hunter, Sparx shook his head. On one hand, he was kind of glad Spyro was finally starting to make friends with dragons around his age. On the other, there were so many unanswered questions that had been risen on this holiday.

Sparx smirked as he crossed his arms. He would have to look into this eventually, but for now, this was starting to become a very interesting year.

* * *

In an open area somewhere in the realms, a faint yelling could be heard. As it slowly got louder, Ripto slammed into the ground head-first. Struggling for a few seconds as he tried to pull his head out of the dirt, he went tumbling back as he popped out of the ground. Steadying himself, Ripto spat out dirt and scowled.

"I...hate... _draaagoooonsss_..."

**Author's Note:**

> Uploading this the day before April Fools Day so I can avoid any shenanigans the internet decides to pull that day. Anyways, there we have it. The April Fools day chapter of 'the Holiday Chronicles' is done. Over all in comparison to Valentines day, I personally think the V-day one-shot was better. Still, this was pretty fun to write too. Also, Dragon-Gaga. /shot
> 
> Also, reason I went with Flame being Ember's brother: I got the idea from the FF.N user Matthais Unidostres. He had Ember and Flame as siblings in his 'Spyro and friends' fic, and I found the concept rather interesting and different from how everyone portrays them, so I decided to give it a try for my one-shot series. So far, I'm rather liking the concept.
> 
> This ending is actually completely different from the one I had originally planned. The one I had planned before just wasn't really working out, as I felt it was a bit too early in the over arcing story and a bit OOC. So, I decided to go with Ripto attacking the realm instead. Still a few stuff that bugs me, but over all I feel it a bit better than what I had planned before.
> 
> Anyways, wonder what's up with Spyro and having problems with arguments? What is Flame still hiding? Maybe we'll find out later this year...)


End file.
